


Monsters and Mages

by Trash_000



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Eventual Relationships, F/M, MMORPGs, Nerdiness, Online Friendship, Online Relationship, Other, Other characters mentioned - Freeform, Video & Computer Games
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-06-29
Packaged: 2019-05-23 23:06:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14943065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trash_000/pseuds/Trash_000
Summary: Belle has been playing an MMORPG game known as MaM. She’s managed to gather quite the Horde of online friends in which she plays with. They group-call, group-chat, they private chat each other as well. They joke around and tease each other. They talk casually about life and all the things that comes with it. They battle monsters and raid cities, and find mystical objects. And maybe sometimes someone sends a nude... it’s all fun and games, but could it possibly become more that just that? Is it possible Belle could form some sort of relationship with one of her guild members?Only one way to find out ...





	1. Chapter 1- Intro

**Author's Note:**

> So basically my friends have been introducing me to WoW and Dnd and idk why but I got the idea to start writing something rumbelle-ish that has to do with an MMORPG game 
> 
> Hope someone likes this...

«Gold-Dark0414: Hey.»

Belle tapped the little notification instantly, as soon as it appeared, a smile bright on her lips as her private conversation with him appeared before her eyes. She immediately sent him a reply. 

«BeautyOfBooks: Hey! What’s up?» 

Who was he? Why, he was probably one of her closest friends at the moment- ironic considering he lived somewhere in fucking Glasgow. He was Gold- as that’s what he’d permitted her to call him by. She’d met him through an MMORPG fantasy adventure game by the name of ‘Monsters and Mages’ which honestly was just a cheap rip-off of games like Dnd and WoW, but Belle oddly found it a better play. That and the people she’d met on MaM were much more agreeable and less likely to try and track her down to steal her kidneys in the night. In fact she’d actually made a close group of friends- the ‘Horde’ as they’d agreed to be called rather than simply a guild or an alliance- a little nod to the WoW background for those of them who’d played that before... Gold was one of those friends. The closest to her of the lot. 

She didn’t know much of the guy, except that he was a man, and lives in Glasgow. He’d mentioned once that he was an older man, but Belle had already figured that out by listening to the way he spoke over the group-calls the Horde made as they played together, and also by analyzing the way he spoke via instant messages. He had that style of speaking that nobody over the age of 35 used. Belle didn’t mind that he was older, in fact she found it rather interesting. She hadn’t originally thought that games like MaM had such a variety in audiences. 

Other little things she knew about Gold was that he enjoyed reading, and sometimes took to writing when he felt like it. She knew he wasn’t much of a music-fan, but listened to a variety of stuff when the chance occurred. She knew his favourite colour, food, and drink. She knew he had a deep interest in antiques- she had the impression he did something in the field as a career. 

She knew he’d been away longer than a few moments after messaging her first. She huffed out a sigh and typed a quick

«BeautyOfBooks: Gold?»

Immediate response. 

«Gold-Dark0414: Yes, I’m here, my apologies!»

A moment’s wait longer…

«Gold-Dark0414: Sorry, Bae had my attention for a moment. Not much is going on, though. You?»

Ah right- there was another thing she knew about him. He was a father. He had a son who he called ‘Bae’. She’d no idea how old the boy was, or what their relationship was like, she simply knew he had a son. 

«BeautyOfBooks: Not a lot either. Hatter told me privately not long ago that he has a personal raid he’ll need our help with. Probably in around 10min…. I’m just waiting for that.»

Hatter was another friend she’d made. Or TeaHatter_82 as his full player name was, Belle, knowing nearly everyone’s true names- knew his name to be Jefferson in real life, he lived not far from her, lived in Boston, but they’d not met and she wasn’t sure if he’d entrusted others with his name, and therefore continued to refer to him as ‘Hatter.’ 

«Gold-Dark0414: Hatter’s always got some kind of raid or loot. He’s a trickster double classed as rogue.»

«BeautyOfBooks: Yeah? Well it keeps us all busy.» 

«Gold-Dark0414: That he does, yes.»

She sighed and noted another one of their party was online. That person was woman older than Belle by about 6 years, Zelena. Zelena lived somewhere in Britain. Belle herself had little problems with the woman, but opinions differed throughout the Horde. She knew Gold wasn’t a fan of her in the slightest. She’d apparently sent him some uncomfortable and questionable things in the past. Jefferson had nothing against her, but he also wasn’t much of a friend for her. Regina was her half-sister, who also lived not far from Belle mind you, in Portland, Maine, and was Zelena’s partner in crime- sometimes literally. They got along as sisters often did, even though they grew up and still live in different continents. And then there was David- who wasn’t online as much as previously mentioned players because he was a devoted husband and father, but seemed to get along fine with everyone, Zelena included. There were a few other minor members of the Horde that played on occasion but none of them frequent enough to be of great importance within their little alliance, and therefore their opinions on Zelena were either unknown or unimportant. 

Apparently Zelena had sensed someone was staring her username down because Belle suddenly received a PM. 

«WickedAlwaysWins: BB! Hey! I need your help- Hatter’s kicking my ass!»

«BeautyOfBooks: Let me talk it over with Gold real quick!»

Belle returned to her conversation with Gold quickly and scrambled to update him on the revelation on what exactly Jefferson’s raid ensued to be. 

«BeautyOfBooks: Hatters’ fight is against Wick! She’s asking assistance. Who’s side are we on?»

Instant response once again. 

«Gold-Dark0414: Definitely Hatter. You know how I feel about Zelena…»

«BeautyOfBooks: That’s what I thought. See you in-game soon!»

The message simply went as read and her friend made no move to reply, so she jumped back to her chat with Zelena. 

«BeautyOfBooks: Sorry Zee, Gold And I are siding with Hatter this time.»

«WickedAlwaysWins: Oh, Boo! C’mon BB! You always just follow the boys, don’t you? Not fair!»

«BeautyOfBooks: :P »

She clicked the game’s icon and sat back as she waited for it to load up. She jumped slightly when there was a group call started by Jefferson, but quickly threw on her headset and answered the call. “Hey guys! Just loading up! Be there soon!” She informed quickly.

Gold’s voice answered hers “Don’t rush. You’re not missing much.” 

Zelena let out a cry “Real funny- you guys a looting me!... missing much… fuck off!” 

Jefferson simply chuckled over the line as his way of input on the situation.

As Belle’s character loaded she noticed a sorceress character run off towards the fight and start assisting Zelena. The sorceress sent a fireball in Gold’s direction, knocking him back and lowering his Hp quite drastically. 

“Hey!” The older man shouted in retaliation, though the exclamation was easily covered up by Zelena squeal of delight. 

“REGGIE!” She shouted “I knew I could count on you sis!” 

Queen_Evil, otherwise known as Regina’s voice added to the conversation. “Yeah, Yeah. I couldn’t just let your camp get looted… half that stuff is mine anyway.” 

\- To be Continued -


	2. Chapter 2- The Children

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Horde’s started another group call and it seems children is a topic they can’t stay away from...

It was a Saturday night and everyone was online in a group call. Some of them were playing MaM while others, like Belle, were doing other things. Belle herself was grading vocabulary worksheets. When she’d became the local Middle School librarian she wasn’t aware they’d later ask her to teach English to the 7th Graders. Though teaching wasn’t what she’d necessarily planned to do, it had been on her list of potential careers and she was happy to do so. Getting herself a teaching degree in college wasn’t a waste after all. 

She sighed in disbelief at the misuse of the word ‘discombobulate’. Honestly, how could one forget that the term meant ‘to confuse’- it was a confusing word! It was obvious. She crossed a X over the word with her pen and wrote ‘Incorrect meaning’ above it. 

Her eyes moved to the next vocabulary word, ‘Ostracize’ and groaned “Oh my fucking god… not to circumcise an ostrich… who the hell?” She said aloud, eyes scanning for a name only to find the sheet was handed in anonymously. Great. It was probably a prank sheet. 

She’d momentarily forgotten about the group-call and it was Jefferson’s laughter filling her ears, as was Zelena and Regina’s confused simultaneous ‘huh’s that’d reminded her of its existence. David was silent in his confusion. Gold was also quiet, but only for a moment before asking “Belle? What-?” 

Her cheeks reddened with embarrassment. “Oh my god guys- I’m sorry!” She giggled nervously “I’m marking vocab sheets, and I think…” she quickly counted the papers. Yep one more than there should be. “Yeah, one of my students thinks they’re funny. The word was ‘ostracize’.” 

“Oh.” Gold commented, barely audible over Jefferson’s laughing. Zelena and Regina both began to laugh too.

“What grade? How old?” Zelena asked after her giggles subsided. 

“Seventh.” Belle said with a shake of her head she knew they couldn’t see. “Twelve and thirteen in age. Preteens.” 

David’s voice joined the conversation. “Ah, a dangerous age, my daughter Emma’s living it now.” 

“Oh yeah.” Jefferson said through his dying chuckles. “We’re all little shits at that age. Gosh, what am I gonna do when Gracie gets there?” 

“Gracie?” Belle asked “Is that you’re daughter? How old is she?” 

“Yeah. She’s ten. Still my little Princess for a little longer.” He sighed. “Do you have any kids yourself, Belle? Or is teaching them enough for you?” 

Belle set the prank page aside to start on marking the next one. “I don’t have any, no.” She though a moment “Haven’t found they right guy to risk parenthood with. But maybe one day.” 

“That’s what we all say when we’re young and picky.” Regina commented no doubt with a wave of her hand if anyone could see her. “Let me tell you right now, there’s no such thing as a ‘right guy’. Just pick a ‘good enough’ guy and get it over with.” 

Gold chuckled “Same thing could be said about women. And in my experience, don’t settle for ‘good enough’ man, that’s how you wind up a single parent. Find a ‘slightly better than the rest’ man.” 

Jefferson gasped dramatically. “Gold! Are you admitting to having experience with men?” 

The sisters busted out laughing once again, David could be heard chuckling as well, and Belle felt a flush and a smirk grow on her face. Jefferson sure had a way with making things funny. 

Gold groaned and there was a small thud, likely from him hitting his head against his desk. “I wasn’t.” 

“But you are now?” Jeff asked a hint of surprise to his tone. A few clicks and a ding signalling one of them had received a message could be heard. 

“No.” Gold said. There was few more clicks and then “Jefferson!” Gold near-shouted, his brogue strengthening in is angry disbelief.. “Did ye jus’ send me a picture o’ ye cock?!” 

Jefferson’s soft chuckle was all the answer they needed. 

————

Belle had finished her marking and had logged into MaM about an hour later and the conversation had changed to focus on what was going on in game. Her character currently followed Charming_1218 through an underground passage to get inside a castle that had its doors locked. WickedAlwaysWins and Queen_Evil we’re working together to find another way in, in case David and Belle’s mission failed, while Gold-Dark0414 and TeaHatter_82 attempted to break the door down. They had to find a way inside so they could slaughter whatever beast lay there, bring its head to the nearest village to earn their prize money, and for most of them level-up, except Regina who’d levelled up earlier. 

The call was dead silent at that current moment when suddenly. “Papa- are you still gaming? It’s nearly two a.m.” 

Gold’s voice jumped into action, quietly however. “Bae, What’re ye still doing up son?” 

“I went for the toilet. I saw your light on. What’re you doing?” The boys voice asked. 

Gold chuckled “Gaming, Aye. Ye caught me.” There was the click of his chair as he leaned back in it. “Go back to bed Bae. I won’t be up much later. We’ve just got a beast to battle first.” 

“Then you won’t mind if I stay up and watch?”

“Bae…” there was a small stretch in which neither of them said a word. Gold sighed “Hurry along. You’ve got school the morrow.”

“And you’ve work. Papa, you need sleep too. Promise you’ll go soon?” 

“Aye, son.” Gold sighed “It’s a deal.” There was an exchange of goodnight before the sound of a door closing and Gold was back to talking to them. “Sorry ‘bout that. My boy’s been worried for my schedule.”

Belle had been smiling throughout the exchange. “How sweet of him.” She commented. 

“How old is he?” Jefferson asked simply. It sounded like his mouth was full as he did, and it probably was full of Cheetos or something, but nobody paid it any mind, too interested in Gold and his son. 

“Fourteen.” Gold sighed audibly. “Just past that dangerous age, yeah. But now he’s almost too grown up already.” 

David chuckled “Yeah, Emma’s almost there… soon she won’t be my little girl anymore and that idea just about terrifies me, Y’know?” 

“Don’t even get me started on thinking about that!” Jefferson exclaimed. “It’s much to soon and I don’t need the paranoia!” 

Zelena hummed, probably with a nod “Yeah, well we all grow up too fast, don’t we? It’ll go by in the blink of a eye. Childhood’s much too short. Never ever lasts.” 

“Oh, now guys…” Belle butt in. “No matter how old they get they’ll still be your little ones. I’m reaching 30 and I’m still my fathers baby-girl. Don’t you all still talk to your parents?” 

“No.” Zelena stated with a laugh. “My father left my mother pregnant, and my mother left me in the foster system for 14 years until she showed up with 11 year old Reggie underwing to meet me then buggered off again.” 

Regina groaned inwardly and shuffled about a bit, likely to get comfortable.“You didn’t miss much sis. Mother was not a good woman. Total helicopter parent. Much to fond of two week groundings and spankings as punishment. Not to mention she’s sort of the reason my first boyfriend died… I’m glad to be rid of her.” 

Jefferson huffed “Both my parents were distant and passed years ago. Never was or really wanted to get close to them.” 

David sounded next. “My father was a drunk. Died when I was young D.U.I… my mother was a wonderful woman, but caught her death a few days before my wedding. Doctors still don’t know what she had.” 

“I won’t go into detail, but neither of my parents were very suitable...” Gold explained rather weakly. “So it appears that to answer your question, Belle, no. We don’t talk to our parents.” 

Belle was in a state of shock. All her online friends no longer had relationships with their parents? What were the odds of that? And how terribly sad! “Well, see then…” she started wanting to console them the best she could. “That’s what makes it near guaranteed that your kids will always be your kids. You’ve learned from your parents failures, and from the sounds of it, you guys sound like wonderful, loving and caring father’s. What child would run from that? As long as you love them, you’ll have them. Trust me.” 

“Gods Belle…” Gold said quietly. “I sure hope you’re right.” 

“I know I am.” Belle responded before her and David’s Character were face to face with a giant Chimaera- the type with three heads. So this was going to be a more difficult quest than originally thought- and they’d have to bring back three heads as proof of their labour… great. 

The beast lunged at them and Belle let out a small shriek as she dodged its path. “You guys better get the hell in here!” She said with a nervous chuckle. The soft-spoken, touching conversation was clearly over now. 

David spoke directly on her tale as his character aimed a crossbow at an eye. “Three-headed Chimaera! And it is not happy we’re here!” 

“Shit!” Jefferson swore upon hearing that information. 

Zelena did similarly with a “Fuck!” 

Regina let out a laugh at their exclamations and simply said “On it.” 

“We’re on our way, you two.” Gold said in promise. “Hold it off the best ye can!” 

————

They’d shown up shortly as promised and together they managed to slay themselves a three-headed beast. The battle took nearly an hour, multiple of them had been healed up from critical condition more than once, and some of them had been revived from death on multiple occasions as well. 

In the end they’d somehow managed to coax the beast out of its dungeon and killed it in an easily excessable by road area. They had the three heads ready to be taken to the nearest village- each of them much too heavy for them to carry. They’d collectively decided to send to boys to go and fetch some horse-drawn carts, agreeing that gold they’d make by cashing in the heads would be far greater than whatever the price of renting the carts would be. Jefferson has also brought up the fact that he could possibly find a way to steal one and save them money there too if needed. 

So now Belle, Regina, and Zelena stood guarding their kill as the others went to find transportation and bring it back to them. The call was dead silent, all of them apparently too exhausted from the online brawl to speak. Only the keyboard and mouse clicks reminding each of them that the call was still ongoing. A ding of a message sounded loud to all of them, indicating something said something in the group-chat rather than in call. Belle clicked on the notification and read what was said. 

«Gold-Dark0414: Belle, I’m sure the others will agree with me when I say that you’re words earlier this evening meant alot. I’ve been thinking of them ever since and I believe you’re correct. Our children will always be our children so long as that’s what we want them to be. As loving Fathers our only wish is that we have the opportunity to watch our children grow up healthy and well, and so long as we remain loving fathers, we will get that opportunity. Thank you for reminding us of that...»

Belle smiled as she read Gold’s words, but her smile only grew as a few more chimes indicated the others had seen and wanted to add as well. 

«Charming_1218: Yeah, as Gold said... You’re right, they’ll always be ours, and we really did appreciate you reminding us of that.»

«TeaHatter_82: Agreed. Thanks Belle! We love you!»

«Gold-Dark0414: That we do.»

Belle chuckled and typed up a quick response, however she decided to tell it aloud as she send it, figuring it’d mean more if it was heard as well. After she heard the little ding she spoke what she’d sent them. “It was no problem. I love you guys too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s a lovely chapter 2 for y’all! Hope you enjoyed! Chapter 3 is already in the works! 
> 
> Shout out to NropaY_OneEye who left a comment on the last chapter and made me smile! Again it was very much appreciated! You motivated me to get this one up ASAP! Thank you! 
> 
> To anyone else, comments are always welcome and I’ll always try my best to respond to them! I think I may even make a tradition out of shouting out one commenter in each chapters end notes.
> 
> Thanks for reading! Your time spent here is valued greatly! 
> 
> ~Trash


	3. Chapter 3- Pasts & Futures

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Horde go over how they all came to play MaM and how each of them found place in their lovely little guild family! David and Gold discuss the Youth of MaM.

Belle smiled proudly at the screen as she watched the majority of her team’s characters perform an in sync dance emote in celebration of their latest feat. They’d all participated in a larger-scale PvP raid, that’d quickly escalated into something resembling a war. The streets of the enemy village had turned to a battlefield quickly. It was the Village Guild, comprising of 40 or so players against the haphazardly put together union of multiple smaller alliances, the Horde included as one of which. Somehow the union of guilds managed to out-smart and out-strength the Village Guild, and now the village was theirs for the taking. They’d all looted themselves eye-catching items before gathering for their celebratory dance. The only one who wasn’t dancing was Gold’s character. 

“Aw C’mon Gold! Don’t break a tradition!” David said over their group call. 

“I have no idea what’s going on…” Gold admitted. 

“We’ve taken over! Won! It’s our Success-shuffle!” Zelena exclaimed. 

“What?” Gold muttered still sounding very much confused. 

Belle suddenly realized something. “Oh my god guys… this is Gold’s first successful large-scale!” 

All their characters stopped their dancing emotes and they all took a long moment to think about it. 

“Oh…” Jefferson said. “I guess it is. He wasn’t online for that last one two months back…”

David hummed “Now that I think about it, he didn’t participate in that dungeon we started back in August either… and he declined the offer for what would’ve been his first way back in early June. He’d said he wasn’t ready for something so intense back then.” 

Zelena let out a whine “Aww! Guys! Gold is still our little MaM baby! So pure!” 

Regina sighed at her sisters exclamation. “ You’re just happy you’re not the baby anymore.” 

“I haven’t been the baby for a while now, thank you very much!” Zelena shot back. 

Gold cut back into the conversation “Excuse me, but I’m still not understanding… will somebody get me up to date?” 

“Sometimes we participate in larger-scale battles, raids, or dungeons. If we’re the victors, we perform a celebratory dance.” Belle began to explain “Once upon a time, we were all the group baby-“ 

Regina cut her off “Or at least the one in the dark. Jefferson, David and I all started MaM around the same time.” 

Belle nodded, though nobody was able to see it. She continued her vocalization. “Yes, Anyway, You’re our newest member. You’re the baby. We’d forgotten this until now, because you’ve been with us so long, nine months or so, but you’ve never participated in a large-scale with us until today. You don’t know the Success-Shuffle! You’re pure.” She explained in the simplest of terms she could. 

“Okay?” Gold said, still sounding a little unsure. “So basically, I’m just the newest member and that’s the reason I don’t know why you were all dancing?” He asked. A few of them made affirmative hums and so he asked “Alright. So, then… why were you all dancing? Where did this originate? What’s the purpose?” 

Jefferson took up the opportunity “Okay! Well it all started years and years ago. Me and David were college buddies at some police school I don’t remember the name of. This is before I dropped out to pursue my dream of being an artsy Hatter. We’d started playing WoW and DnD and all those kinds of nerd games back when they were still kind of a new thing. I’m talking over a decade ago! Anyway we’d always try and make our characters do little victory dances when we accomplished something together. Then when dance emotes became a popular thing we started using those. It was all fun. Then one day after a few years of loyal playing, David just stops.” 

“In my defense,” David said “My wife had just given birth to my daughter and I wanted to spend my time being a father.” He then decided to go on and start telling the story himself. “Anyways, a few more years go by, I occasionally meet Jeff in WoW for good old times sakes but, we kind of outgrew it -- or at least I’d thought we had. Jeff and his wife had Gracie, we met online even less and eventually we just lost contact. Then three years ago I get this random phone call from an unknown number. It’s Jefferson.” 

Jefferson picked up the story again “Yeah, I was sort of in a slum. I was feeling alone after my wife died and I wanted a buddy again. David was my best bud, and I wanted him back! So I tracked him down in the good old yellow and white pages- because he only had Facebook, and he kept all his personal shit hidden, so the phone book was the only way to go… but yeah that was real difficult because apparently He’d moved to fucking Waterboro! Not to mention he and MM decided to change their last name to his mother’s maiden when she passed, so that was really confusing. Luckily online phone books are state-wise and I found him in Maine. I call him up. He answers the phone sounding all professional and crap, but i know his voice, I know it’s him! And guess what I say?!” 

Gold hummed, apparent that he could see where this was going now. “What did you say?” 

David pipes in again. “I answer the phone,‘ David Nolan speaking, Nolan household. May I help you?’ and I’m expecting some sort of telemarketer, but no, instead I just hear…” he inhaled and readied himself to do his best Jefferson impression. “Oh my god David! Hey! Guess what! You’ll never believe this! There’s this new MMORPG, it’s called MaM! Monsters and Mages! Dude! You should totally play with me!” He spit out quickly, imitating how Jefferson had told him years ago. 

Jefferson let out a laugh. “And then this guy, he just straight up pauses a moment before saying. ‘Yeah, Sure. What’s your user? I’ll friend you when I’m in.’ Like holy shit! I never even said it was me either!”

David chuckles. “I just knew. Who else would randomly call me up over half a decade later to ask me to play an MMORPG? You’re the only guy I know crazy enough for that.” If anyone could see him, David would’ve been shaking his head. He cleared his throat indicating it was time to move on. “Anyway I get my MaM up and running, I log in, get on our server and guess what? Jefferson’s not alone! He’d found someone else on WoW while we were apart, and he’d convinced her to join MaM with him too. Guess who that was?” 

Gold had three people he could possibly guess who that was, and according to Regina’s Statement earlier that Zelena was no longer the newbie, it wasn’t Zelena. “Who?” He decided to just go along and ask. 

“Me.” Regina states plainly. “I got on MaM and my first thought was ‘Fuck, this blows’, because it was still in its early stages. There wasn’t nearly as much as there is now, but those two idiots are basically losing all their senses. So it’s our first week, we’ve just been XP-farming, killing boar and stuff to level up quickly when suddenly, there’s an announcement that people were wanted to help raid some castle, which guess what? It was The Dark Castle. You know, the one where all dark magic came from?” 

Jefferson jumped back in. “So we decide to join this raid, and it’s a long and gruesome battle, multiple hours long, the game glitches and crashes a few times too, but you know how new games are.” There was a sudden loud thud as if he’d brought his hand down on a table. “but in the end, we slew all the dark guardians and we’re all fucking going nuts! The Castle’s brightening by the second and me and David, without saying anything, we just simultaneously started the shuffle emote!” 

David spoke once more “I mean we really celebrated too soon, because shortly after that, the Dark magic that was removing itself from the castle exploded and was shot all across the map. That’s why magic wielders have some very questionable spells in their abilities now. Before then, you could only use the light ones. Regardless, the shuffle was a fun reminder of what I’d been missing out on since I’d left MMORPGS. It’s when I decided to start playing as often as I could again.” 

Regina chuckled “Oh yeah, I remember that, but I must say I’m pretty glad I can use dark spells now. Strictly light magic as a sorceress was weak! So glad for that magic buff…” There was a sound from her end of the call that sounded like a mug or cup being set down. “But anyway, I was just as confused as you are now, Gold, but I just decided to join in on it because it seemed stupid and fun. It then became a tradition that after any successful large-scale battle of any kind, we performed a victory shuffle.” 

Belle remembered her first experience with the Success-Shuffle very well. It was within her first month of playing MaM, nearly two years ago. She sighed at the memory. “I remember when I first met you guys.” She said. “I was playing strictly for professional purposes at the time. I was taking an online journalism class because I was bored and wanted to add to my degree. I had around a month to write an opinionated two page news article about MMORPGS. It was supposed to teach me something about personal bias in the media… Anyways, I’d never played one before and my friend Ruby and her girlfriend Dorothy, they had been playing MaM for a little while so I decided to play too, just to try it out. Two and a half weeks into it, I see in the pubic chat that someone’s looking for some more DPS players to assist on what they predicted to be a lengthy dungeon battle. I thought ‘Hey I’m a fighter! That’s DPS!’ And I’d never participated in a dungeon before so I signed up. Mind you, archery was all I could do back then. It was long before I’d learned how to wield any kind of melee weapon or learned any cantrips from my eleven-ancestry so, my DPS was really low, and I had no real means of healing myself. I got destroyed so many times in that dungeon!” 

Jefferson chuckled “Oh yeah! That was a really long one too! Took us four hours! Most dungeons are only between half an hour and an hour and a half! But yeah, you stuck through it with us, stayed online until the end, and when we finished it… Oh my god! You must’ve upped like twenty levels! And you got so much gold and loot from that dungeon you were able to buy the best bows and arrows for yourself at that time!” 

Belle rolled her eyes with a smile. “I only leveled-up seven times. From fifteen to twenty two. Not twenty times! But yeah, it was pretty cool anyways. Remember the bow that’s arrows never missed its target? I got so many one-shots on my quests from then on because I was so powerful! By the time quests started getting difficult for me again, I’d gone up another four levels.” She chuckled, “But that’s not what I was going to mention! I was going to say that after four straight hours of intense dungeon battling, seeing you three all dance in victory wasn’t all that strange to me. Sure I was a little confused at first, but I jumped in rather quickly. Suddenly I had three friend requests and Jeff was asking me to join the ‘Horde’. It was at that moment I knew I’d continue playing long after my article was finished. Even if Ruby and Dorothy sometimes mock me for still playing MaM, I’m glad I never stopped. I’m glad I got to continue playing with you all. You’re all very important to me.”

“Aww…” Jeff said. “You’re important to us too, Belle.” 

“Yeah!” Zelena chimed in. “And I’m glad you stuck around too, because if you hadn’t, you wouldn’t have met me!” 

Belle chuckled. “Oh yeah. What would I do if I didn’t know you, Zee?” Her tone was semi-sarcastic. 

“I know right?” Zelena didn’t seem to have picked up on the unseriousness of Belle’s claim. “BB, I’m like your best friend! You’d be lost without me!” 

“Sure… yeah.” Belle smirked. In truth, she’d likely be fine without Zelena around, but she had to admit, she did make things more entertaining.

“Alright,” Gold stepped back into the conversation. “Ye mays well tell me now. When and how did Zelena come into play?” 

Belle shrugged, once again aware the other couldn’t see her so she spoke on. “Not that long after me, really. Maybe a month or two after I joined the Horde, Regina roped her in.” 

Zelena sighed “Yeah, I haven’t got any big or exciting tale as to how I got here. Really all that happened is that ever since Reggie and I have gotten back into contact, approximately four or five years now, she’s been going on and on about MMORPGS. Eventually I got curious enough and decided to give MaM a go. I’ve been part of the Horde since I was level one.” 

Regina hummed an affirmation. “Yeah, the first time she logged in, I introduced her to Jefferson, David, and Belle. She had her first large-scale with us two weeks later.” 

“Oh.” Gold murmured in thought.. “Kind of like what my boy did with me, yeah?” 

“Your son?” Belle queried a little confused. “Bae plays MaM?” 

“He used to…” he chuckled “he played for a few months. His user was Neal-Laddie24 or something of the like… Neal’s his middle name, and the ‘Laddie’… well we’re Scotts, so you can piece it together.” 

Belle recognized that screen-name. It took a moment for her to remember where from. It suddenly clicked “Oh! That was him?” She asked. “The one you were playing with when we found you? Who kept trying to kill Zelena?”

“Yeah, that was him.” Gold said, a smile behind his voice.

“That little shit!” Zelena cursed

Regina clicked her tongue. “To be fair Zee, you did troll-kill him with a broom twelve times prior to that meeting, just the week before.” 

“We were at war!” Zelena huffed. 

Gold let out a laugh. “Oh! I remember that! I was there too. He was trying to introduce me to PvP fights… Ye really ticked him off. Kept yelling it was bloody harassment. My level was just wee back then too, so I couldn’t help him any either. He raged out and I had to take him for some pokey-hats to cheer up.” 

“Pokey-hats?” Jefferson questioned.

“Oh…” Gold paused. “Ah, Ice Cream… in a, um… waffle-cone? We call them Pokey-hats here. ‘Cause if you turn them upside down, they look like little hats… pokey-hats…” 

“Aw, that’s adorable!” Belle smiled at her screen towards the little impish character that represented her friend. “I love it when certain places collectively have cute nicknames for things.” 

“So when did your son stop playing?” David asked, refocusing the conversation.

“Well, he still plays occasionally with his friends, but not nearly as much as he used to. It’s been probably six or seven months since he played regularly. I guess it got a little lame once he saw his old man took quite fondly to it.” Golds chair clicked as he shifted. “Why do you ask?” 

“Oh… well…” he cleared his throat. “Well you said a while back that your son was 14, Right?” 

“Yes, he just turned in December. Why?”

“Well, my Emma, she’ll be 13 soon, and that’s the age one is allowed to start playing at, and man, does she ever want to play.” He paused “ I promised her we’d make her an account on her birthday, but you see… I don’t want her to end up playing with a bunch of older strangers, and I don’t think she’d have much fun with us. I’m kind of hoping I can find her some friends in her age group to play with. I was thinking maybe…” 

“Aye, I see.” Gold hummed in thought. “Well I’ll have to talk to Bae about it, and if he agrees I know Bae’s little guild are all youth. I don’t think there’ll be a problem, but I’ll have to ask him.” 

David answered him with a “That’d be great. Thanks. Maybe having a new friend will rekindle your son’s interest in the game.” 

“Heh, maybe. Ye never know.” 

————

“Holy shit!” Belle shrieked as she spammed her dodge and block maneuvers.”I need help!” Her character was still taking serious damage from her opponent, some sort of boss, Goblin King, he probably had something to do with the lore, but honestly, Belle had stopped paying attention to MaM’s lore a while back. She played for the thrill of battle, the love of adventure, and the support of her new friends now. The goblin thrashed it’s limbs around wildly in attack, lunging at her every opportunity it got and her health was depleting faster than her slow-acting healing cantrip could reload itself. Being a Half-elf certainly had its faults. She had very little magical capabilities, and those capabilities were limited. 

“I’m coming!” Gold’s character suddenly dropped down from above, taking little damage as he tuck and rolled. The impish persona threw a vile of healing potion that shattered at Belle’s feet, her HP climbing back to a healthy three quarters to max before he threw a spell at the Goblin King that knocked him back several feet. The goblin suddenly re-focussed its attacks at Gold and began to chase him down. “Shite!” The man exclaimed. 

Belle took the opportunity and equipped herself with a crossbow and poisoned arrows that added bonus to her overall damage. She locked her aim on Goblin King and began urgently pressing 1 to shoot. The frequent attacks seems to slow the King enough for Gold to regain himself, dish out his duel daggers, and join Belle on the attack again, slashing their foe fervently. 

After a long moment of struggling, a fireball from above signalled they weren’t alone on this boss anymore and actually had a chance. Regina’s sorceress Harpy flew above them, whipping handfuls of her magic towards the King. “Jefferson and Zelena’s taking care of the minions.” She informed. 

“What about David?” Gold asked. 

“His game must’ve glitched. One second he’s fighting, the next his character’s AFK, and right after that, he’s offline.” Regina’s voice sounded annoyed. 

“David? Can you confirm?” Belle asked.

“No use. He was disconnected from call too, otherwise he’d be telling you.” Regina sighed. 

Jefferson entered the conversation. “He’s in Waterboro. There’s supposed to be one hell of a storm there tonight. His power probably kicked off.” 

Zelena suddenly shrieked “Jeff! No time to stop and chat! Get these gremlins off of me!” 

“They’re goblins Zee, there’s a difference…” Jefferson sighed. “We’re almost through here. We’ll join you with the boss soon!” Jefferson’s orc let out a mighty roar that echoed through everyone’s speakers, a signal that he was about to kick some serious ass. It was followed up by Zelena’s squeal of delight. She’d indeed been saved. 

Not long after Goblin King and his minions had all been slain, everyone collected their share of the prize money. This time when the lot of them started dancing, Gold chuckled and joined in as well.  
.   
“Hey Papa? Do you know where-“ Bae’s voice sounded in the background of the call “What are you doing?” 

“Oh! Gods, Baeden!” Gold’s chair made a whirring noise, likely from him spinning around to meet his son. “I Didnae hear you come in -- it’s er…. It’s a victory dance. We’ve defeated Goblin King.” 

“It’s the Success-Shuffle!” Jefferson shouted over the line. 

“An honorary Horde guild tradition.” Belle added with a smile imagining the young teens baffled expression.

“Oh my god, Papa…” the boy sighed. “You and your friends are all nerds…” 

“Says the lad who introduced his father to the MMORPG world…” Gold huffed in defence. There was a pause. “So what’d you come in here to ask of me?” 

“Hm?” Bae hummed in thought. “Oh! I was wondering if you’ve seen the laptop charger? August and Lily messaged me… they want me to join them in game in 20.” 

“Oh-uh…” Gold could be heard rummaging through drawers for a moment. “Aye, it’s right here.” A moment of silence before it appeared something popped into Golds mind. “Hey, son?” 

Another beat of quiet. “Yeah, Papa?” 

“Um, alright so this has to do with you and yer guild okay?” 

“Uh… alright?” 

A moment of nothing, then a sigh. “Alright So… my friend from the Horde, David, has a daughter named Emma, and she’s about to turn thirteen. She really wants to play Monsters and Mages too, but her father is concerned about her not knowing anyone her age who plays… so we were wondering--” 

Bae finished the thought for him. “If she could play with us? Because we’re all youth?” It fell quiet, in which it could be assumed that Gold nodded. “I mean, I’d have to talk to August and Lily about it, but I’d be okay with it. We’re all from different places so it’s not like she’d be left out or anything.” 

“Really?” Gold asked. 

“Yeah, sure pops, I’ll ask the others about it now.” Said the boy preceded by the sound of Gold’s door shutting again. 

Belle smiled “Your son sounds like a good kid.” She said over call 

“Aye, he is. He amazes me at times.” 

Jefferson spoke again “Hopefully his friends are as good as he is. It’d be a shame to tell David bad news…” 

Gold yawned. “Eh, well, despite what his friends say, I’m sure Bae will play with Emma regardless. He’s always liked meeting new friends.”   
.  
Belle smiled and glanced at the time then sighed. She had somewhere to be shortly. “Well, I’m sorry to say guys, but I’ve got to go.” 

“Aww! No! What?!” Zelena protested. “It’s around midday for you over there isn’t it? Where are you going?” 

“It’s actually half past 2pm actually.” Regina mumbled on the sidelines. 

“Maybe she has a date?” Jefferson said. “Tall, cunning young man, easy going public setting- a classic arcade swing-bye or long stroll on the beach. Later they’ll grab dinner, he’ll take her back to her apartment and-“

“Appointment of sorts?” Gold asked, cutting off Jefferson’s running imagination. 

“Dentist.” Belle confirmed. “Three o’clock.. I shouldn’t be gone longer than an hour or two. I’ll be back later, no worries.” 

 

…TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for how late this is (Even though I don't really have a schedule...), My editor and I had a few problems to oversee, but luckily we figured it all out!  
> Special thanks to @winter_storm who commented on the last chapter and motivated me to get working of the general backstories for the characters! (Unfortunately in a tragic loss of connection whilst going back to edit some things on that chapter, the original posting of Chapter 2 and all its comments were lost... rip)   
> To all reading, comments are very much welcome! Your support, thoughts, suggestions, and even questions are appreciated and I will always try my best to respond to you ASAP! 
> 
> Thanks for reading! Your time spent here is greatly valued!
> 
> ~Trash
> 
> P.S. If anyone wants to ya'll can follow my new Tumblr account. Blog name is simple 'Trash_000'

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Thanks for reading MaM, if you liked it and would like to see more feel free to leave a comment!  
> Your time here is very much appreciated!  
> ~Trash


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